Two young brothers who went missing in the Amazon rainforest for four weeks have been found alive.
Gatekeepers News reports that the boys; Glauco, 7, and Gleison Ferreira, 9, left their home in the Lago Capanã nature reserve in Brazil’s Amazonas state to find small birds on February 18.
Authorities began a wide search of the rainforest in the country’s northwest after they failed to come home, but called it off on February 26.
They were however found on Tuesday night almost four miles away from home by a tree cutter, who heard one of the boys screaming at the sound of his chainsaw.
According to reports, the man found the two boys lying on the rainforest floor, hungry and painfully thin, with skin abrasions. They told their parents they had eaten nothing while lost and had survived only by drinking rainwater.
Tearful dad Claudionor Ribeiro Ferreira told TV station Band Jornalismo: ‘When I saw my children, I was thrilled.’
He said he was also taken aback by the size of the crowd who came to see his boys’ safe arrival.
The tree cutter found the two boys lying on the rainforest floor, both in severe condition.
Glauco and Gleison were then rushed to hospital in nearby Manicoré, where they were treated for severe malnutrition, dehydration and skin abrasions.
They were then airlifted on Thursday morning to an ICU in regional capital Manaus.
A video tweeted by the Amazon Manaus Post shows the pair being transported on a boat from the remote part of the jungle where they were found.
Arriving at a dock to be put in an ambulance, a hundreds-strong crowd greets them.
The post’s caption reads: “The video shows children being rescued amid commotion and applause in the morning.”
A search party of more than 250 people, which had continued to search for the boys after official efforts ended, celebrated as the boys were stretchered to safety.
